Ottawa plans on expanding its clean technology and electricity tax credits to include heat and electricity produced by burning biomass, as outlined in its fall economic statement. …Ajay Dalai, the Canada Research Chair on Bioenergy out of the University of Saskatchewan, said Canada is “sitting on a gold mine in terms of biomass availability of products.” …“The amount of bioenergy that we produce in the country is about seven terawatt hours compared to one thousand terawatt hours worldwide — a very small fraction coming from the Canadian biomass.”…The fall economic statement is proposing to expand eligibility to the 30% Clean Technology investment tax credit to include “systems that produce electricity, heat, or both electricity and heat from waste biomass.” …This is welcome news for the Forest Products Association of Canada. …However, some environmental groups argue that biomass is not as green as it seems, including Stand Earth. …Accompanying legislation is expected to be introduced in fall 2024.
On January 30, 2023 Canada’s Standing Committee on International Trade adopted a motion to study again the United States’ anti-dumping and countervailing duties on certain Canadian softwood lumber products. Released Monday, their report recommends that the Government of Canada:
It is with profound sadness that the family of John Dunford announces his sudden passing on October 26, 2023 in Kamloops, BC. …John loved being a forester and took great pride in the profession. He was well respected and well liked. John worked for Tolko Industries for over 23 years. John was Professional Forester of the Year in 2010 (by the BC Association of Forest Professionals). He served a four-year term on the BC Forest Practices Board, three as vice-chair, where he was recognized as bringing a fair and balanced perspective to the Board. Nationally, for over a decade John served as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Forestry Committee for the Forest Products Association of Canada. He led the Woodland Caribou and Forest Certification sub-committees always bringing thoughtful solutions to these policy conversations. He was also a member of the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) Forestry Committee during this time. For many years John championed the importance of sustainable forestry. He served as Director and Chair of Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) Canada, and represented PEFC Canada internationally on several boards and working groups.
Forest Products Association of Canada applauds the federal government’s decision to include forest biomass conversion technologies for heat and electricity generation in its Clean Manufacturing and Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credits. The move was announced in today’s Fall Economic Statement tabled in the House of Commons by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. “This decision marks a significant step forward to grow Canada’s forest bioeconomy and will encourage additional market use for low-grade wood in the face of worsening fire patterns,” said FPAC CEO Derek Nighbor. “It’s good news for forestry workers and communities because this will improve our sector’s international competitiveness position in the face of similar incentives in the United States and Europe. We absolutely needed this to be able to compete for global investment in the months and years ahead.”
VANCOUVER, BC – West Fraser Timber announced that the Company has completed the acquisition of Spray Lake Sawmills located in Cochrane, Alberta, following completion of Canadian regulatory reviews and satisfaction of customary conditions. “Building on our operating footprint in Alberta, we see Spray Lake Sawmills as an ideal fit with our lumber and treated wood business. We are excited to welcome the experienced and dedicated team to the West Fraser family,” said Ray Ferris, CEO. Spray Lake Sawmills produces treated wood products, dimensional lumber and a variety of innovative wood residuals and biproducts. It has an annual lumber capacity of 155 million board feet and holds two Forest Management Agreements granted by the Government of Alberta with a total Annual Allowable Cut of approximately 500,000 m3.
ALDERGROVE, BC — An Aldergrove wood processing firm will receive up to $300,000 to expand its factory and create seven new jobs as part of a provincial program. Western Wood Preservers is expected to use the money to expand and renovate its facility to potentially double its production of treated lumber and move to year-round operations. The money comes from the BC Manufacturing Job Fund. In total, $1.3 million is going to four businesses in the Fraser Valley in the recently-announced funding. “The funds are expediting the company’s plan to enhance its treating facility, which will result in increased employment to handle the increase in production capacity,” said Chris Carter, director of Western Wood Preservers. “Given the reduction in available fibre, our facility improvements will help extend the life of more wood products through pressure treating.”
RICHMOND, BC – Paper Excellence Canada announced today a generous contribution of $50,000 to the Nature Trust of British Columbia. This donation will support the Nature Trust of BC’s conservation projects in the Kootenays and reflects Paper Excellence’s unwavering commitment to environmental sustainability and conservation. “Our support for the Nature Trust of BC’s endeavours in the Kootenays aligns with our core values of environmental responsibility,” said Blair Dickerson, VP, Public Affairs, Paper Excellence Canada.” …“We are grateful for this generous donation. Protecting these lands, sustaining migration corridors and ensuring these ecosystems remain intact will help fight climate change and biodiversity loss for generations to come,” said Dr. Jasper Lament, CEO, Nature Trust of BC.
VANCOUVER, BC — Canfor announced it will curtail operations at its Polar Sawmill located in Bear Lake BC, north of Prince George. The curtailment is the result of a shortage of economically available fibre in the region and is expected to be in place for a period of approximately six months. …”Unfortunately, BC is amongst the highest cost operating jurisdictions in the world. With persistent weak market conditions and a shortage of cost-competitive fibre in the region, we simply don’t have enough economic fibre to support both of our Prince George-area mills through this winter. As a result, we are making the difficult decision to curtail operations at Polar to ensure continued operations at our other facilities in the region,” said Stephen Mackie, Executive VP, North American Operations. The curtailment will remove approximately 140 million board feet of production over six months.
VANCOUVER, BC — Drax commends the Government of Canada on the inclusion of biomass-using technologies in the Clean Technology and Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credits. …Will Gardiner, CEO of Drax said, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is vital to energy security. Drax’s ambition through BECCS is building large-scale carbon removal facilities, creating thousands of jobs in new clean energy technology and generating dispatchable, renewable power using sustainably sourced biomass for homes and industries – while supporting the growth of the forestry sector and other intermittent energy sources. …Drax believes that Canada could be an ideal location to deploy BECCS, given its access to one of the world’s greatest fibre baskets, well-established sustainable forestry sector, and suitable geology for CO2 storage. …In Canada, Drax has invested over $830 million in the Canadian forestry sector, supporting more than 10,000 jobs and contributing $1.1 billion to the nation’s GDP in 2021.
A wrong-way bet on the price of wood pellets has jeopardized America’s biggest exporter of the fuel, even though demand has never been higher among the European and Asia power plants burning wood instead of coal. Enviva said its gambit to buy pellets from a customer, and resell them for more, backfired when prices fell, and that nine-figure losses could trigger a default with its lenders by year-end. Enviva’s shares are down about 60% since it warned investors the trade risked its ability to remain a going concern. The stock has fallen more than 97% this year and recently traded below $1. …“Absent a significant and near-term increase in wood-pellet market pricing, we expect [the trade] will continue to have a negative impact through 2025,” Glenn Nunziata said. …It should have been a great time to be the world’s largest pellet exporter. Prices and exports were running high following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. [to access the full story, a WSJ subscription is required]
Faced with growing competition for its main raw material, the chemical maker Ingevity is closing its pine chemical plant in DeRidder, Louisiana, in the first half of 2024. The site uses crude tall oil (CTO), a byproduct of pulp and paper production, to make adhesives and other commodities. The closure and related cuts will save Ingevity around $70 million and about 300 employees will lose their jobs. CTO is rich in fatty acids that Ingevity and other companies have been separating and upgrading for over a century. But biobased feedstocks like CTO are in increasing demand as a raw material for transportation fuels as companies move away from petroleum to lower their greenhouse gas emissions. The EU’s Renewable Energy Directive is creating demand for biofuels in the EU. As a result, US pulp and paper mills are exporting more CTO to Europe as they used to.
GREENVILLE, S.C – The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (Endowment) is pleased to announce 
UPM business units UPM Pulp, UPM Timber, UPM Communication Papers and UPM Biofuels will start change negotiations on possible temporary layoffs. The negotiations are conducted to prepare for possible temporary adjustment of production in the Finnish units should the uncertainty in the operating environment continue, UPM announced. Earlier this year, the company already conducted change negotiations concerning temporary layoffs in UPM Specialty Papers, UPM Plywood, UPM Raflatac, UPM Biocomposites and UPM Raumacell. The current negotiations affect all UPM pulp mills, sawmills, and graphic paper mills in Finland, as well as the Lappeenranta biorefinery. …Possible temporary layoffs could take place from 1 January until 30 June 2024 in UPM Pulp, UPM Timber and UPM Biofuels and from 1 March until 31 August 2024 in UPM Communication Papers. 
AUSTRALIA — A pulp mill using recycled fibre is set to be built in Australia that will then export the output material. An investment of AUD$137 million (£72 million) is being made into what will be Australia’s largest paper recycling facility that will be located in South East Queensland. It is a joint initiative by Auswaste Recycling and the state of Queensland and Australian national Government. The new facility will process an estimated 220,000 tonnes per annum of recycled waste paper and cardboard into pulp for export. The Australian Recycled Pulp and Paper Project (ARPPP) forms part of a AUD$1 billion (£524 million) plan to boost recycling infrastructure across the country, while supporting jobs and keeping valuable material out of landfill. …Construction of the ARPPP facilities is planned to commence mid 2024, and projected to be completed in the middle of 2025.